She was face up, like one of her older sisters and after a few days in the NICU, everyone is home and safe.

So at the age of 41, I'm now a father of four ranging from 24 to 8 days old. And I couldn't be happier.

Yeah, we planned this, and yes, we're crazy.

I cannot thank God enough for the blessings in my life.

My oldest, is my step-daughter and while I think of her as my own, she was 8 when she came into my life. And as much as I'd like to say that I was ready for a baby when my son was born, I was an immature 28 year old and made way too many mistakes. Our next daughter was born 3 years later, she was a surprise...a pleasant one, and again I wasn't as mature as I should've been. It took me time to really understand how much I love being a Dad.

In fact, I've come to understand it is what I love most in life.

I hope Sophia gets the benefit of that change and I can't explain the joy of having all of us together.

Gaming is on hold, and at the moment I'm not sure how long that will be...as long as it needs is the answer that spring to mind. But I have a fairly unique feature to my work schedule that let's me fit in games while running Magic Tournaments three nights a week.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

So I just received an e-mail form WotC letting me know that the playtest files will be taken down on 12/15. Ghost of Dragonspear Castle is now available in PDF (I have the print version) and two more adventures are on the way next year (with the rules to use them).

My first question is why take the rules down? We all know that they will still be available and the rules in the Ghost of Dragonspear Castle are not the latest playtest rules.

My second question is when are we going to get a firm release date? Sure, we all suspect that it will release at Gen Con next year, but we don't know for sure.

I understand that even if every employee at WotC wanted more transparency, Hasbro could easily cut them down. But I hate to see short sighted ideas being continually used by the "industry leader". If your not innovating, your dying.

I took a break from DnD Next earlier this year after the final play test packet was posted.

It felt like a sharp turn from what we had been testing for many moons.

However, upon further reflection the single biggest problem I had with the newest rules is something I'd been looking for in DnD for years. You see, I hated the strange bonus economy that DnD had been using. A +1 for BAB was different from a Save, which was different from a Skill, which was different from Ability Scores. Apparently a Feat equaled a +2/3 to Skills, a +3 to Saves, and a +1 to a specific weapon.

Next fixed this. Proficiency spans all of those categories and relies on options, not bonuses to achieve "balance". It was something I longed for, and then got mad when I saw it rolled out. It was the same knee jerk reaction I had when saw that only Fighters advanced with an Attack Bonus in Lamentations of the Flame Princess. While is shocked it, upon reflection it made sense. It worked.

So I've been revisiting it.

I won't lie, part of it is that while I love 13th Age and I respect Pathfinder, as a store manager it's my job to pave the way amongst my customers for whatever the new version of Dungeons and Dragons is called. So I need to start think about demoing the game and spreading the word and, hopefully, taking preorders.

One day, I might add in the escalation die and trade out Backgrounds and Skills for Backgrounds from 13th Age, but right now it's getting to be the time where I rally the fans and show the uncertain wether this version of DnD is right for them. And I'm lucky because I have several exist strategies in place if they don't.

I can say with some authority that there are some cool surprises coming down the line from the developers. So keep your eyes peeled.